Cullman County’s budget will eclipse the $80 million mark for the first time, after the Cullman County Commission approved a new budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year totaling almost $83 million.

Approved at this month’s regular commission meeting, the county budget takes effect on Oct. 1 of this year and runs through Sept. 30 of 2025. Overall, the new budget rings in at $82,979,668, more than $3 million beyond the outgoing $79,946,797 that the commission passed a year ago.

“The ongoing priorities” in this year’s budget, the commission noted in the new document, “are road and infrastructure improvement, facility revitalization and personnel recruiting and retention.”

In keeping with its continuing spending focus on infrastructure, the commission approved its largest-ever annual allocation for the county road department, whose FY 2025 budget of $12,698,937 outflanks the current year’s $10,488,240 road budget by $2,210,697 — and far exceeds the $7,635,000 road budget the commission approved two years ago.

The road department also will make use of an additional $1.3 million in Rebuild Alabama funds for 2024-2025, as well as $400,000 — the same figure as the current year — in Federal Aid exchange funds.

The county’s General Fund grows incrementally for the coming year at $34,086,846, a $2,618,917 increase over the current year’s $31,467,929 General Fund. Of that amount, the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office and county jail claim by far the largest expense, absorbing $17,079,976 (51.39 percent) of the overall FY 2024-2025 General Fund.

Outside of the General Fund, the road department marks the commission’s largest commitment of departmental expenses for the coming year, slightly outpacing the county water department’s budget of $13,486,739 — all accounted for through user fees — for FY 2024-2025.

A complete copy of the county’s newly-adopted budget, including detailed departmental funding information and additional information about appropriations made to outside local agencies, is available online at www.co.cullman.al.us/assets/PDFs/Budget-Visualization-FY2025.pdf.